GenesisCore Research Participation and Data Use Terms
Document version: 3
Introduction
GenesisCore conducts research and development to examine associations between astrology and individual characteristics, behavior, and related matters, and to develop the resulting knowledge into computational rules, AI models, products, and services. These Terms govern participation in the research and the use of information provided for research and commercial development. Before participating, please review the following points in particular: - Information provided will be used not only to validate astrology, but also to develop AI systems that reconstruct astrology, train and evaluate AI, and develop and improve products and services. Research and development outcomes may be offered for a fee. - No uniform retention period, such as five years, is established. Information will be retained for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in these Terms. It may be retained for a long period without a predetermined end date. - You may request withdrawal from research participation, as well as disclosure, correction, suspension of use, erasure, and other measures pursuant to applicable laws and regulations. However, it may not be possible to remove only an individual's contribution from aggregated results that have been dissociated from individuals or from trained models and other outputs that have already been created or provided. - The Operator will not engage in the business of selling the collected research data itself. The basis for the research may be published in the form of aggregated results or appropriately processed materials. Raw data or information that can identify an individual will not be published as-is for research presentations. - If the Operator changes due to a business transfer or similar event, information necessary to continue the research and services may be transferred to the successor. The purposes of use, records of consent and withdrawal, safeguards, and related conditions will also be carried over, and the scope of use will not be expanded without limit merely because of an acquisition.
Article 1. Operator and Scope of Application
1. The Operator is 谷口暖斗 (business name: AETHER CORE; brand name: AETHERCORE; hereinafter, the “Operator”). 2. These Terms apply to information accepted through GenesisCore's research participation features and to research and development using that information. 3. Separate terms of service apply to the purchase, payment, delivery, and related aspects of products, and a privacy notice applies to the handling of personal information generally. These Terms will be presented together with those documents. These Terms will not be interpreted to restrict rights provided by law. 4. Research conducted separately by the Operator using publicly available materials, and joint research conducted under individual agreements, will be governed by the terms of use for those materials, the applicable individual agreement, or other applicable conditions.
Article 2. Participation in Research
1. Use of the research participation features requires explicit consent after reviewing these Terms. If you do not consent, you cannot provide new information through research participation features for which consent is required. 2. Merely viewing the Terms, closing the screen, failing to respond, or similar circumstances will not be treated as consent. 3. Before participation begins, the screen will indicate the scope of the research participation features for which consent is mandatory. Rights relating to products already purchased and the handling of features provided under conditions separate from research participation will be governed by their respective terms of use. 4. Whether psychological questions may be paused or skipped, and what results can be received in that event, will be explained on the screen for the applicable feature. Consent to research participation and completion of every question will be treated separately.
Article 3. Participants, Guardians, and Respondents
1. The research is intended for people across a wide range of ages, but the eligible ages, response methods, conditions necessary for comprehension, and other requirements may be specified separately for each study. 2. If a person under 18 years of age participates, a person with parental authority or another legal representative must review these Terms and provide any necessary consent and confirmation. The participant will also receive an explanation appropriate to their age and level of understanding, and their wishes will be respected. 3. If the participant, such as a young child, has difficulty understanding and answering the questions, the participant may take part using a corresponding guardian-rating or similar method only in a study for which that method is provided. Answers that a guardian gives to self-report questions in place of the participant will not be treated as the participant's own self-report. 4. If the person entering the information, the person giving consent, the person who is the subject of analysis or research, and the person answering the questions are not the same, their relationships must be reported accurately. Information about an adult third party may be provided only if the necessary authority has been obtained from that individual. 5. The participant's age and the date of response, the respondent category, and the versions of the scale and explanation used will be recorded to assess suitability for the research and the applicable analytical conditions. 6. The eligible ages and response method for each study will be displayed, and information outside that scope will not be accepted as a valid response for that study. The wishes of a participant capable of understanding will be confirmed, and participation will not be forced if the participant refuses. Guardian ratings and the participant's self-reports will be recorded separately.
Article 4. Purposes of Use
The Operator will use information accepted for the following purposes. These purposes include commercial research and development and the commercialization of its outcomes. 1. To calculate birth charts, conduct astrological analyses, compare results with personality traits and related characteristics, display results to the participant, and provide other GenesisCore features. 2. To examine associations, reproducibility, limitations, inconsistencies, and the absence of associations among computational systems such as Western astrology and Indian astrology, celestial placements, interpretations, and indicators relating to personality and behavior. 3. To reorganize and reconstruct astrological knowledge and to research, develop, and validate computational rules, features, classification systems, methods of determination, and methods of prediction and estimation. 4. With respect to AI and statistical models used for the research and services above, to create training and evaluation data, perform training and fine-tuning, evaluate performance, safety, fairness, and related qualities, and make improvements. 5. To organize research and analytical materials and create search data, reference materials, embeddings, and related resources to support search, matching, and response generation. 6. To develop, provide, and improve AI systems, applications, APIs, analytical reports, continuously provided services, and other products and services related to the foregoing. 7. To revalidate research outcomes, manage the quality of research and training data, detect errors and duplicates, prevent misuse, and handle inquiries, consent management, withdrawal, and related matters. 8. To publish, sell, and license research outcomes, statistical materials, software, models, and related items within the scope of Article 9. “Commercial use” includes commercialization within the scope stated above, but does not mean unrestricted use for unrelated purposes that have no reasonable connection to that scope. If applicable laws and regulations require notice, consent, or another procedure for handling information for a new purpose, that procedure will be followed. The commercial development covered by these Terms includes models, software, APIs, materials and educational content, products, and services intended for astrology; the analysis, validation, explanation, and prediction of human characteristics, behavior, and related matters; support for self-understanding; and search and generation for those purposes, as well as the sale and licensing of those items. This consent does not cover the repurposing of information for individual screening by third parties to decide matters such as employment, credit, insurance underwriting, or medical policy, or for individualized advertising separate from this research.
Article 5. Information Handled
Depending on the research participation features used and how they are used, the following information will be handled: 1. Birth information provided, including date of birth, time of birth, information concerning whether the time is unknown or its level of accuracy, place of birth, latitude and longitude, and time zone. 2. Analytical information calculated from birth information, including celestial placements, birth charts, features, classification and determination results, and interpretive text. 3. Responses to psychological questions and similar items, aggregate scores, response times, and quality information such as missing responses and response tendencies. 4. The age categories of and relationship between the subject and respondent; necessary confirmation information regarding guardians and related persons; and the version and language of the explanation and consent, date and time, receipt or management code, and related information. 5. Voluntarily provided comments, corrections, inquiries, and other feedback, together with records of responses to them. 6. Usage and processing records necessary to provide the features, respond to failures, and maintain security. The content and purpose of optional items and additional survey items will be explained when they are collected. Even if names, nicknames, contact details, or similar information are collected, directly identifying information that is unnecessary for research will, according to the applicable purpose, be excluded, separated, or processed so that it is not included as-is in training data.
Article 6. Methods of Use for Research and AI Development
1. For the purposes stated in Article 4, information may be copied, organized, quality-checked, integrated, matched, aggregated, processed, converted into features, and compiled into training and evaluation data, among other processing. 2. Training and evaluation cover development of models managed by the Operator or development performed by contractors under the Operator's instructions and control. If an external service provider uses the information for its own purposes, Article 8 applies. 3. The versions of the research and models, the purposes and scope for which data was used, versions of consent, and related information will be recorded, and the information eligible for use will be managed in accordance with the applicable conditions. 4. Information replaced with management codes or encrypted will still be handled appropriately as information relating to an individual if a correspondence with the individual remains. Information will not be treated as having been dissociated from the individual solely because of the name given to the processing method.
Article 7. Retention Period and Management
1. No uniform retention period will be established. Information will be retained for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes stated in Article 4. It may be retained for a long period without a predetermined end date for long-term validation, confirmation of reproducibility, and the development, evaluation, maintenance, and related operation of models. 2. The need for retention will be reviewed periodically in light of the type of information, risks, use, requests from the individual, legal requirements, and related factors. In accordance with applicable laws and regulations, the Operator will consider and implement the erasure of personal data that is no longer necessary or processing to dissociate it from individuals. At least once a year, raw data, linkage information, training and evaluation data, search data, backups, evidence of consent, models, and related items will be categorized. For each category, the Operator will record its management location, responsible person, purpose of use, reason for continued retention, risks, decisions concerning restrictions on use or erasure, and the next review. Even where future reuse is cited as the reason for retention, the anticipated purpose of research and development or revalidation will be recorded specifically. 3. Depending on the nature of the information and the applicable purpose, the Operator will implement security measures including restrictions on access rights, separation of identifying information, encryption, and supervision of contractors. 4. Backups, evidence of consent and withdrawal, and records necessary for handling disputes, incidents, and related matters will be managed separately from data used for ordinary research. Records that must be retained will not be used unconditionally for new research or training. 5. The retention of trained models and aggregated results will be managed separately from the retention of the original personal data.
Article 8. No Sale of Data; Contractors; Business Succession
1. To the extent necessary to carry out the purposes stated in Article 4, the Operator may outsource cloud services, AI processing, maintenance, and other operations. Contractors will be permitted to handle only the information necessary for the contracted work, and the handling will be controlled through contracts and other measures. 2. The Operator will not sell collected research data as a data product. Nonpublic raw data and individual-level data will not be provided, for payment or without payment, for third parties to use for their own research, business, or AI training. Outsourcing under this Article, business succession, handling pursuant to applicable laws and regulations, and publication of research outcomes and public materials as provided in Article 9 are distinct from such provision. 3. When using external AI services, processing performed for the Operator will be distinguished from use for the service provider's own model training. The applicable nonpublic research data will not be sent under terms that permit a contractor to train on, use, or re-provide it for the contractor's own purposes. Contracts, settings, and actual processing will be checked, and necessary subcontracting will also be managed. 4. If information is handled by a contractor or third party located outside Japan, the Operator will provide necessary information regarding the country concerned, its systems, safeguards, and related matters, obtain consent, and complete other procedures according to the form of handling and applicable laws and regulations. 5. Information may be handled where permitted by applicable laws and regulations, including where such handling is based on law. Even in that event, the applicable subject matter and conditions will be confirmed, and only the necessary scope of information will be handled. 6. In connection with a merger, business transfer, or other business succession, information necessary to continue operating the research and services may be transferred to the successor. The successor will be required to take over and comply with the purposes of use before the succession, the applicable conditions of consent, retention and security management, withdrawals and use restrictions, and pending requests. The identity of the successor, the timing of the succession, the contact point, and changes in handling will be notified or published at an appropriate time. If an expansion of purpose or other change requires new consent or another procedure, that procedure will be followed. 7. Before a business succession, confirmation through aggregated materials and similar information will be prioritized during due diligence. If it becomes necessary to review personal data, the connection to actual succession negotiations and the applicable laws and regulations will be confirmed, and handling will be limited to the minimum necessary for the due diligence purpose. Confidentiality, prohibition of independent use and training, access restrictions, measures in the event of a breach, return or erasure if the transaction is not completed, and related matters will be established by contract. Merely expressing an intention to acquire the business does not confer the right to obtain research data freely. 8. Even if shareholders, a parent company, or similar parties change, the provision of information to, or use for other purposes by, a parent company or affiliate that is a separate legal entity is not automatically permitted. Paragraph 4 also applies to a successor outside Japan.
Article 9. Publication and Commercialization of Outcomes
1. The Operator may publish rules, methods, software, AI models, aggregated results, reports, and related outputs obtained through the research in academic presentations, on websites, on GitHub, or through other media, and may provide them for payment or without payment. 2. Paragraph 1 includes the commercialization, licensing, and integration of models, software, APIs, and related items, and the provision of related services. It does not mean that a product will be sold using an individual participant's name or endorsement. 3. To demonstrate the basis for the research and enable verification, the Operator may publish research methods, analytical code, sample sizes, aggregated results, evaluation results, limitations, and related information. Raw data, information capable of identifying individuals, correspondence tables, and management codes will not be made public for research presentations. If synthetic examples are used, they will be distinguished from actual observed data. If public data containing individual-level information is necessary for verification, the data will be processed to satisfy applicable conditions, including legal standards for anonymously processed information, and the risks of re-identification and restoration will be assessed. The necessary information items and method of provision will be published, security measures will be taken, and the data will be expressly identified as anonymously processed information, among other required measures. Data will not be published as anonymous merely because names have been removed or replaced with numbers. The risk of inference from date and place of birth, celestial placements, unusual combinations of responses, and related information will also be assessed. If the applicable conditions cannot be satisfied, individual-level information will not be published. Public materials will be made available for third parties to obtain and use, and it may not be possible to retrieve them completely after they have been copied or redistributed. The place of publication, the information items, an explanation of the processing or aggregation method, and the terms of use will be provided. However, linkage information that could lead to re-identification and processing methods that must be kept confidential will not be disclosed. Publication does not constitute a promise to provide the entire body of collected data. 4. The provision of information or participation in the research does not automatically grant participants intellectual property rights in, a share of profits from, compensation for, royalties from, or other rights relating to research outcomes, products, models, or related items. If an individual agreement or applicable law provides otherwise, that agreement or law will apply. 5. If a participant provides free-text content or similar material in which the participant holds rights, the Operator receives a nonexclusive, royalty-free license necessary to use that material to the extent required to achieve the purposes stated in these Terms. This paragraph does not transfer rights relating to personal information or require the waiver of claims provided by law. The license is limited to rights that the participant holds or may lawfully license. Participants must not provide a third party's copyrighted work, confidential information, or personal information without authority. The license includes reproduction, translation, modification, training and evaluation, and sublicensing to contractors under the Operator's control as necessary for the purposes of these Terms, but does not include permission to publish or sell the free-text content itself on an individual basis.
Article 10. Withdrawal from Participation; Suspension of Use and Other Measures
1. A participant, or a legal representative or other person with the necessary authority, may request withdrawal from research participation. Requests for disclosure, correction, suspension of use, erasure, and other measures pursuant to applicable laws and regulations will also be accepted. 2. The procedure will be provided through the research participation management screen or the contact point stated in Article 14. If you have lost your management code, please contact that point. Information necessary to identify the relevant information and verify identity or authority may be requested. 3. After a withdrawal is confirmed, the relevant individual-level data will, according to the effect and scope of the withdrawal, be excluded from new compilation of research or training data, new training, and other covered uses. The processing status and response outcome will be confirmed and explained as necessary. The covered information includes raw data managed by the Operator, individual-level derived information, training and evaluation data, search indexes and embeddings, jobs awaiting processing, and the applicable information held by contractors. Measures will be taken to stop new uses for research, evaluation, search and response generation, training, fine-tuning, and related activities. The scope of the response, including items currently being processed, the expected time for completion, and the results will be confirmed. An incomplete response will not be represented as fully complete. 4. Withdrawal from research participation, exclusion from future use, and erasure of retained information are not the same procedure. Requests for erasure and related measures will be addressed after confirming applicable laws and regulations, the information concerned, processing already performed, necessary grounds for retention, and related matters. If the request cannot be fulfilled in whole or in part, the reasons and related information will be explained. 5. Evidence of consent and withdrawal, and information that must be retained to comply with law or handle disputes and related matters, may be retained to the extent necessary for those purposes. The fact that such information is retained will not be used as a reason to resume a withdrawn research use.
Article 11. Aggregated and Trained Outcomes
1. For statistical or aggregated results already created after dissociating them from individuals, and research outcomes already published or provided, it may not be possible to identify and remove the contribution of a specific participant. 2. It may be technically difficult or impossible to completely remove only the influence of a particular participant's data from a trained model. Deletion of the raw data does not mean that such influence has been removed. 3. The preceding two paragraphs do not mean that no model or outcome contains personal information or that no request will be addressed. The Operator will consider a response in light of applicable laws and regulations, technical feasibility, and the individual's rights and interests, including where there is a risk that personal information remains or is reproduced in outputs. Where necessary, feasible measures such as suppressing outputs, filtering, retraining, removing learned content, or discontinuing provision of the applicable model will be considered, and the decision and response will be recorded. 4. Outcomes lawfully created after dissociating them from individuals may continue to be retained, used, and provided to the extent that doing so does not conflict with applicable laws and regulations or a separate agreement.
Article 12. Nature of the Research and Important Notes
1. This research examines associations and reproducibility. It does not guarantee the validity of astrology, the accuracy of any particular prediction, or an individual's personality, ability, or related characteristics. Inconsistencies and findings of no association are also subjects of the research. 2. If answering questions or viewing results feels burdensome, please use the provided options to pause, skip, make an inquiry, or take other available action. 3. Do not make medical, legal, employment, or other important decisions based solely on the analytical results. 4. The Operator's liability will be governed by applicable laws and regulations. These Terms do not exempt the Operator from liability that cannot legally be excluded, including liability for intentional misconduct or gross negligence.
Article 13. Amendments and Renewed Consent
1. When these Terms are amended, the effective date, version, and necessary details of the changes will be provided. 2. If changes to the purposes of use, information handled, scope of provision, or related matters require renewed consent or another procedure, the relevant handling will begin only after completing that procedure in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. 3. The persistence of a previous checked state or continued use of the service alone will not be treated as obtaining any newly required consent. 4. These Terms are governed by the laws of Japan. However, this does not exclude the application of mandatory protective provisions applicable to participants. Jurisdiction over disputes will be determined in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
Article 14. Contact
Operator: 谷口暖斗 / AETHER CORE (AETHERCORE) Contact for research participation and data handling: takatsusora@aether-core.org For further details about the Operator, please refer to the service's business operator information and privacy notice.